Hiller gets chance to snap back into form

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Let us call Jonas Hiller's start Sunday night in goal against Edmonton for what it is.

A badly needed reprieve.

Last time out for the veteran went about as bad as it could possibly be for the 31-year-old Swiss goalie. An opportunity to fend off hard-charging rookie Frederik Andersen following three games to rest resulted in being pulled Friday night after four goals allowed on nine shots.

Andersen is not an option given that he is in Anaheim nursing what Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau calls a "headache" and nothing more than that, the result of taking a slap shot from Nashville's Shea Weber off his mask.

So it is Hiller against the Oilers. It was just nine days ago here at Rexall Place where he gave up four goals on just 23 shots, including the overtime winner to low-scoring defenseman Andrew Ference.

Now Hiller has the chance to do whatever he can to keep the faith of Boudreau and the Ducks' coaching staff and remain part of the conversation when it comes to who starts Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"It’s nice if you don't have too much time to think about things if it didn’t go too well," Hiller said. "If you fall from the horse, you want to get back on it as quick as possible. That's all i can do."

Hiller has acknowledged that he is thinking too much, perhaps even of matters that don't have to deal with stopping the shots coming his way. It isn't hard to think that a highly uncertain future with the Ducks is on the mind of the potential free agent.

Always accommodating to reporters, Hiller was unavailable after Friday's debacle against the Predators. Before his critical start Sunday, the seven-year veteran talked about just focusing on hockey.

"You go out there and you want to do well," Hiller said. "And then you get scored on right away and never really getting into the game. If you don't have that good feeling, it's tough to find your way into it.

"I’m glad it happened right now and not at playoffs or whatever. At the end, I got to find a way to play better and stop thiking about too many things."

The Ducks are facing more questions about their goaltending with the playoffs looming. Hiller said he isn't thinking about how tonight or another possible start Monday in Vancouver could play into Boudreau's thinking when it comes to the postseason.

Boudreau continued to offer public support of Hiller, whose goals-against average (3.36) and save percentage (.880) are poor since an 18-save shutout of St. Louis on Feb. 28.

"Well, if I was a goalie that got pulled, I’d certainly be one to play the next game," Boudreau said. "You don't turn bad overnight. Or you don't get good overnight. He's been a great goalie all year for us.

"He's had a couple of rough outings. At one point, he's going to come back and he's going to play really good. I'm hoping it's tonight. You always hit a low point and you rebound from it and you go back up. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be today."

Andersen stood out in the Ducks' recent three-game winning streak. Boudreau said he expects the Danish netminder to be able to work out Tuesday when the club returns home.

Boudreau was clear to say that Andersen didn't suffer a concussion. Andersen, through his Twitter account on Sunday, welcomed the support from his following by saying, "Thanks for all the nice words. Doing everything I can to get back as soon as possible."

"It’s always precautionary when you get hit in the head," Boudreau said. "But we think he’ll be ready. If not playing Wednesday [against San Jose], at least being in the lineup."

And then there is John Gibson. Gibson, 20, was recalled to replace the ailing Andersen, again stoking the possibility that the team's prized prospect will make his NHL debut.

It could happen Monday in Vancouver. Hiller has played on back-to-back nights just twice this season, in November and January.

"We don’t often go back-to-back with the goalies," Boudreau said. "We certainly want to see Gibson. But it's at a time where I think it depends on how Hilly plays and how the end result is to whether we go with Gibby.

"We have all the faith in him in the world. We think he's going to just be a superstar. But at the same time, it's his first year."

Having said that, Boudreau dismissed the notion that the game's importance would be too much for Gibson to get his feet wet.

"He's played in such big games before, whether it'd be world championship, world junior championship, that I don't think the size of the game or the impact of the game would matter to him," he said.

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